According to local civil defence sources, at least 140 civilians have been killed by regime forces in the area in the period from November 14 to December 2.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating civil war that began in early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting and more than 10 million displaced, according to the UN.